It wasn’t pretty. It was a gritty and grinding performance on both ends. Most notably, it was a tremendously close finish inside Auburn Arena on Sunday afternoon. At the end of the day, the Auburn Tigers fell at home to the Kentucky Wildcats, 64-60.
Cold offense late in the game plagued the Tigers, who made only four baskets in the fourth period and shot 37 percent. Auburn was led by Brandy Montgomery, who finished with 22 points. Katie Frerking overcame a slow start to score 16 points, shooting only 6 of 17 from the field.
“We knew coming in that this was going to be a defensive game,” Auburn head coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said. “They’re a very good team; they play inside, outside and they can score. We knew we had to stop them in transition as well, and we didn’t do that at crucial times.”
The Tigers struggled from three-point range, only converting 2 of 17 attempts, both of which were hit by Montgomery. The rest of the team went 0 for 12.
“It wasn’t anything Kentucky was doing, it was us,” said Montgomery. “We have to work harder. We had spurts where we would work hard, and then we would slack off, and it hurt us in the end.”
Kentucky started fast and finished strong. The Wildcats remained levelheaded amidst a 10-0 Auburn run in the third quarter and overcame a six-point Tiger lead in the fourth. Kentucky shot 46 percent for the game and was led by sophomore Maci Morris. She drained four from beyond the arc and finished with 18 points, including a clutch runner in the lane with under two minutes while covered by Frerking. Kentucky shot 58 percent in the final quarter.
“We didn’t get stops,” Williams-Flournoy said, referencing the final period of play. “They hit some shots, and our defense got a little bit out of position. We didn’t get stops, and then we would come down, and our offense would be stagnant, and we didn’t score.
“If you’re not getting stops and you’re not scoring, then it’s going to be a bad game.”
Auburn forced Kentucky into 19 turnovers, however, only seven of those came in the second half.
“We’re a little short handed; we tried to work a ton in traps,” Kentucky head coach Matthew Mitchell said. “We worked on fundamentals. I’m really proud of the team. Every time those waves of turnovers came we were able to stop the bleeding. We had stretches where we took care of the ball very well.”
In the final two minutes, Kentucky held a slim lead Auburn couldn’t surpass. Janiah McKay missed a layup late, and the Wildcats preseason All-American Makayla Epps hit a clutch free throw with under a minute remaining to complete an old-fashioned three-point play.
Tip-off was delayed because of a tornado warning on the Auburn University campus. Kentucky wasn’t shaken though. The Wildcats got out to an early six-point lead thanks to six makes in their first eight shots. Kentucky shot 62 percent in the opening period of play.
The loss halts Auburn’s three game winning streak, following an impressive comeback performance against Tennessee on Thursday. Kentucky has now won four in a row since a disappointing home loss to Texas A&M knocked them out of the top 25. The Tigers now place fourth in the SEC in a tie with Texas A&M, while Kentucky grabs sole possession of third, behind Mississippi State and South Carolina.
The Tigers drop to 14-6 and 4-2 in conference play. Kentucky moves to 14-6 with a 5-2 SEC record. Auburn continues their SEC rodeo against the Missouri Tigers on Thursday, Jan. 26, in Colombia, Mo. The contest between the Tiger teams will be broadcasted on SEC Network+.
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